Cody Rhodes On the Transition From Vince McMahon In Charge To Triple H, Being a Big Fan Of The Latter

Cody Rhodes is the 2023 men’s Royal Rumble winner, and he spoke last night after his win about coming back to TV with a new boss in Triple H. Rhodes spoke at last night’s post-Rumble press conference and was asked about the change in power structure while he was on the shelf, his being a fan of Triple H’s and more. You can check out some highlights below (h/t to Fightful):

On the transition from Vince McMahon to Triple H in his experience: “I was very fortunate that, when I came back, I had enough experience that I didn’t always need structure and direction. You guys have seen me without a leash before. I get a little wild. It was great to have that structure, but I’ve had an unbelievable experience, an unbelievable education in wrestling. I’m not meant to do anything else. This is what I do. It was easy then when I came back, and Vince was in charge of that. It’s easy now because, the way I look at it, and I don’t mean this as braggadocious or arrogance, this is something I talked about with one of my kids at the school; if I’m the best, then it doesn’t matter who is showing me where to go and telling me what’s next. If I’m the best, my transaction is simple. These fans pay their money, I make them feel something, and I can do that better than anybody. If I can, then it can be this person or that person.”

On his being a fan of Triple H: ” I will say I don’t want to get mushy with it, but Triple H has no reason to be a fan of mine if you really think about it. I smashed the throne, I took a lot of shots, always light-hearted, but I think he knew where I was coming from. I was hungry. He’s the one guy, I don’t think he remembers this, but I’ll never forget it. I talked to him in Gorilla when I was really frustrated doing Stardust. I went to walk out, and he said, ‘rattle the cages.’ That could have meant a lot of things. ‘Go talk to the writers.’ I took it literally and went out and rattled (the cages) as much as possible. I’m so glad that relationship gets to develop now. Clearly, you guys see how I model my presentation and performance. I’m clearly a massive Triple H fan. I’m glad he’s the coach, and I get to play. I want to play quarterback. I owe him a lot for how he handled my dad. I don’t want him to look at me and see my dad. I want him to look at me and see me. Today, I felt like he saw me. That’s very important. My last name has done a lot of things for me, but we’re at a point in my career where my first name has to do those things as well. It’s off to a great start. Let’s see where we go from here.”